Cancer is the abnormal growth of cells that rapidly replicate in the body, and the house cleaning mechanisms of the body do not recognize to remove or destroy these cells. Due to the cells abnormality, where it has loss the cellular death message that all normal cells have, the cells then develop a life and growth of their own. Unfortunately this is what allows tumors to then take over. The development of abnormal cells actually occurs many times throughout our life, when the body’s terrain is healthy and our body’s house cleaning mechanisms take care of these abnormal cells so tumors do not develop.

I explain to my patients that cancer is an opportunity that has arisen in the body because it is not balanced. All types of cancer can be affected and even possibly prevented if we work hard to keep our cellular terrain and our beliefs healthy. I like to educate people on several terrain topics that I like to improve upon for all patients. For any new cancer patient I like to address all the bodily terrain topics, and work to minimize the progression of their cancer and ultimately increase their fight power against it. I currently have many metastatic cancer patients who were told in the medical world the doctors had nothing more to offer. Yet once we started working their terrain and optimized all of it, their cancer arrested or disappeared.

Let’s start with understanding how nutrition plays into supporting the prevention of cancer, or furthermore, if you have cancer why it is important to optimize your nutritional status to help fight your cancer. Most people do not realize that 40% or more of cancer patients actually die from malnutrition! Many oncologists cling to an old mindset that rejects supplements out of concern that they’ll interfere with treatment. Dr. Charles Simone, M.D., medical oncologist, immunologist, and radiation oncologist, did a recent survey of 280 peer-reviewed studies that ought to lay many of these fears to rest. These studies, which involved over 8,500 patients, consistently demonstrated that dietary supplements did not interact negatively with treatments. Along with supplying needed nutrients, many of them actually improved the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation, reduced appetite-suppressing side effects, and even increased survival chances. There are very specific tests that check on known nutrient deficiencies that directly feed specific cancers, such as zinc in hormone-based cancers, vitamin D for breast, colon or prostate cancer and, of course, antioxidants which affects all cancers. You can have your physician run a Spectracell FIA nutrient test that tells you the status of 30 of your intracellular nutrients including all your B vitamins, minerals, amino acids and your antioxidants status. Most insurance companies cover this test.  Bottom line with the Spectracell testing is that now we can know exactly where a patient stands nutritionally and start to supplement with exactly what their body needs. In fact, when patients are extremely depleted from malnutrition or stress, we sometimes find it critical to use Myers’ cocktails, which are intravenous infusions of various nutrients tailored to the patient’s needs. Myers’ cocktails help restore the patient’s defiencies much faster so their body can start to repair and fight the actual cancer.

Your immune status is the next critical terrain aspect to check. Why most oncologists don’t care what your immune system is doing when you have cancer amazes me. Most of my stage IV cancer patients appear to have their immune system so depleted that sometimes they are like AIDS patients! Unfortunately, chemotherapy commonly wipes this system out and it becomes a race of time where hopefully the bad cells are killed faster then the good cells, and sooner than the overall failure of the body’s system. In fact, there is another great test called a lymphocyte enumeration with natural killer counts. This tells us how your T cells and natural killer cells are functioning. If these are very depleted there are fabulous botanicals and immune enhancing supplements. One of my favorites is Immucare I by Natura. This is a professional line product available at the Healing Gardens Medicinal Store. I have seen this product raise T cells and natural killer counts from severely deficient numbers to normal in six weeks!  Some other products that help raise natural killer counts are mushroom extracts like maitake and reishi mushrooms that are found in products like Immpower (which also has ingredients that maintain peak natural killer cells, supports cytokine production, and promotes optimal T-cell and macrophage activity), as well as Natura’s Immucare II.

The next terrain topic is hormones. Many hormones can actually feed the growth of certain cancers. We have all heard of how progesterone and estrogen feed breast cancer, or how testosterone feeds prostate cancer. But it is also important to understand that you can look at the pathways the hormones follow and correct the dysfunctional pathways. If you have a family history of breast or prostate cancer, I think it is a good idea to optimize this so you avoid even getting cancer. Data from John Hopkins validated how certain extracts from the Brassica family of plants play a significant supportive role in up-regulating the detoxification pathways of the liver that helps process these hormones. Some of my favorite products are Ultimate DIM by Healing Gardens Store or Natura’s Cell Guardian, both of which truly help the body to choose the safest pathway to metabolize the hormones. Additionally, other hormones that are critical to monitor include insulin and leptin, particularly for breast and prostate cancer.

The next two topics involve toxicity to the body and pH levels. If the body is burdened with increased heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides or even medications, then the detoxification pathways become overburdened. This unfortunately can put a tremendous strain on the body’s ability to keep up with house cleaning of abnormal cells because so much effort and cellular energy is spent coping with the toxic burden. It is critical that, if heavy metals are present, you assist the body with downloading the load. This can be done via the skin with infrared saunas, detox baths, or just tremendous sweating like in hot yoga. It is also possible to use an array of nutrients, botanicals or chelating agents to bind the metals and assist their removal. One of my favorite products is called Ultimate Chelex by Healing Gardens Store, which is a combination of chelating agents that are usually well tolerated by most. Unfortunately when the body is metal-toxic, commonly the pH is very acidic. Testing your urine or saliva with pH strips can tell you if your body is acidic, which is usually a pH below 6.5. This pH indicates cellular strain and is a more welcoming environment for cancer cells to evolve or replicate. It is critical to try to keep the body’s pH at measurements between 6.5 and 7.0.

The sixth terrain issue is viscosity. In Chinese medicine we view this as stasis of the blood, a stagnation of the blood flow, which invites dis-ease. In the medical world this can be looked at as the presence of fibrinogen and/or proteins in the blood that slow down the flow. When we have stasis, stagnation, and hypercoagulable states within our body, we feed growth and metastasis of undesirable elements. To assist in the improved flow of the blood, there are enzymes like lumbrokinase and nattokinase that can help eat and break down the proteins that cause this viscose environment.

The seventh terrain topic is inflammation.  Unregulation of the inflammatory pathways is an invitation for the body to develp chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and arthritis, as well as cancer and infections.  For inflammation I like to use AKBA or Curcumin Plus by True Botanica, Pure EFA's by The Healing Gardens Store, and Inflamaway by Natura.

Finally the mind and your beliefs. This is probably the most important part of healing - we are our thoughts! It is critical that when we get ill, we look at the process as a teacher and as a journey. We must realize our body is the last manifestation of our spiritual emotional self. So when physical things occur in our body, it has been going on in our emotional body for a long time. I like to say the body is like a poem about our spiritual self. When we listen, ideally sooner then later, it is a gift and it is always a teacher. The illness journey can bring profound changes and that leads to healing. We must not be afraid; we must work with our thoughts and beliefs and remember they are what dictate to our cells.

Each one of these topics we could have a class on alone, but for now this is a good start to realize that when you address the body terrain you can arrest cancer. As I said I currently have many patients with cancer and even stage IV cancer that were told there was nothing more in the medical world to offer them. When we started addressing the terrain, the cancer often ceases to be a nuisance. That has only confirmed to me that when the body is given all the right support, it is truly miraculous to witness what happens!